Our Jar Size Never Changes

My kids were with my parents for a week!!! I made a huge list of things to do with my free time and got right down to business.  I quickly learned a lesson:

No matter what, our jar size never changes.

We each get 24 hours in a day and although I got a lot more done without interruptions, I only got a fraction of my To-Do list done.  I'm realizing that the image I have as I get ready to go to bed, the image of that lady who is going to live my life the next day and be so productive, doesn't really exist.  The lady that DOES show up, has migraines and other challenges.  She's also a bit of a perfectionist so it takes 3x longer than planned in order to get something done correctly.

Day 1.  I planned on designing letters to promote my speaking topics for the coming school year
Day 2.  Research churches to send letters to, label, and mail the letters.  After the quick visit to the post office, I planned to use my Joann's gift card to buy clearance crafts to keep the kids busy during the summer
Day 3.  Go through the kids' toys and purge the clutter
Day 4.  Clean out my closet and gather clothes from all family members to donate
Day 5.  Get house ready for my birthday gift of a house cleaner visit.  I wanted to have the house organized for our summer schedule when the kids came back.
Add to that the daily walk and pilates or yoga class.

In the end, I didn't have a house that looks like the end of an episode of Horders.  The kids' toys are still way over cluttered.  The refrigerator wasn't stocked with all the well-planned healthy meals inspired by the new Paleo cookbooks delivered during the week.  I fired the house cleaning company because the scheduling and constant rescheduling (I've lost count at 7 last minute rescheduling for 3 visits) has caused more stress than just having a dirty house.  But I DID create and mail out wonderful promotional letters for my business and enjoyed not cooking one dinner the entire week. (more on our cheap date nights in another post)

So, now I'm back to wearing the Mom Hat as I put my rocks in the jar each day.  Still doing quiet times, getting back to going to bed in a timely manner and getting up early in order to get the day rolling.  My latest victory has been balancing the "Schedule Nazi" with the "It's Summer, Let's Chill Fairy."

It's just not worth it to try to shove as many rocks into your jar as you can.  The jar is only so big and if you push it, something is going to break!

How is your summer jar going?

Have a great 4th of July filled with friends, family, and hope!